Dick Kuntz

Take small, manageable steps on the way to big direct mail profits. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. A step-by-step approach can turn seemingly impossible tasks into manageable projects. That's something forms distributors need to remember when considering the direct mail market, where high-volume, high-dollar projects can be a bit daunting. Dick Kuntz, president of GBF Graphics, Skokie, Ill., pointed out that forms sales are fairly straightforward and tend to repeat, while direct mail almost always in-volves new copy—not to mention a proofing process and press checks. "If a forms distributor gets a $10,000 or a $15,000 order,

Offering variable printing means big changes, but also high margins. When 52-year-old scuba enthusiast Jane Young of West Palm Beach, Fla., received a travel brochure from Charlie B. Travels promoting a cruise to the Caribbean that included a scuba diving package for those aged 50 and older, her interest was piqued. Just three months later, she was diving off the island of St. Lucia with a group of her peers. That is just one example of the effectiveness of variable data printing making it obvious that, in an industry where printed materials are distributed by the millions, it pays to get personal.